Mail-conveyer.



PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907; F.. S WHITE 6: J. F. STAFFORD.

MAIL GONVEYER. APPLICATION FILED 8EPT.13, 1996.

3 SHEETS-SEEM. 1.

No. 847,035. PATEN n31) MAR. 12, 1907. P. s. WHITE & J. F. STAFPORDLMAIL GOBW EYLR. APPLIOATION. 11.21) SEPT. 13, 1906,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

attomugd.

No. 347,035. PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907.

P. s. WHITE & J. F. STAFFORD.

MAIL GONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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awuenlfozd 4 UNITED srArns PATENT enrich.

FRANK S. WHITE AND JEROME F. STAFFORD, MINNEAPOLIS, KANSAS.

MAlL OONVEYEFi.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 12, 1907.

To all whom it may concern.-

bracket for supporting the same. Fig. 6 is a Be it known that we, FRANKS. WHITE and detail perspective view of the said bracket.

JEROME F. STAFFORD, citizens of the United States, residing atMinneapolis, in the county of Ottawa, State of Kansas, have inventedcertain. new and useful Improvements in Mail-Conveyers; and we do herebydeclare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which'itappertains to make and use the same.

p This, invention relates to mail-conveyers, and more particularly tothat class which are designed for use to transport mail from-some pointalong the route of delivery to the house of the person for whom the mailis intended.

, The primary object-of the invention is to provide a device ofthis-character of simple construction which will transport a box of mailor other packages'from one point to another and which will be under'the'control of the operator at all times during its transit,

and the device includes means whereby the I for the mountin of the boxor carrier, the

said bracket being supported from a stationary wire or cable andrepeatedly con- .nected with a traveling cable, by means of which theboxcarried by the bracket may be moved from'one point to another.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of oursystem, showing the arrangement of the terminal and intermediate postsof the same and the mannerof mounting the mail-box upon the cables. Fig.2 is-a view in elevation of the opposite sideof the terminal post, whichis located at the house of theuser. Fig. 3 is a detail horizontalsectional view on the line 8 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4; is a view in sideelevation of one of the intermediate posts. Fig. 5 is a detail View, inside elevation and partly in section, of the mail box or receptacle andshowing the Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 5denotes one of the-terrifinal posts of the system, which is located atthe house of the user of the system, 6 the.-

other-terminal-post, which is located at'any 7 suitable point along theroute, and 7- the intermediate posts. of the system.

A wire or cable 8 is connected at one of its ends with the houseterminalpost 5 and at its opposite end to the route terminal post 6 andis supported intermediate its ends at various points by arms, 9, whichare located upon the intermediate posts 7 adjacent their upper ends. Thepurpose of this wire or cable 8 will be presently explained.

A bracket 10 issecured to the terminal post 5, as at 11, and extendslaterally andup wardly therefrom and has its upper end forked to formspaced arms 12, at the upper ends of which is journaled a shaft 13,carrying a pulley 14, which is located'between the said arms, and asprocket-gear 15, which is lo- ,cated upon one end of the shaft andout-'wardly of one of thearms.' A second post 5' above. the plane in whichthe pulley 14 islocated and is of substantially the same construction asthe arm 10,hav'in bracket-arm is secured to the which results in spacearms 16, the said arms being connected. loosely with the shaft 13outwardly of the corresponding ends of thearms 12. 7 It will thus beseen that the shaft 13 is firmly supported upon the post, but at aslight distance therefromjor in advance of the same.'

asimilar forked end- Journaled in a bearing-bracket 17 upon the post 6is a shaft carrying a second pulley 18, and over the said pulleys isengaged anendless cable 19, which serves as a means for moving thereceptacle for the mail from one of the posts to the other in a mannertobe hereinafter explained. i

In order that the cable 19 may be driven, a shaft 20 is journaled in abearing-sleeve 21,

which is connected with the post 5 by means of an inte ralclamping-collar 22,. and upon one end of the shaft is keyed or otherwisesecured a sprocket-gear 23, with which and the sprocket-gear .15 1Sengaged a sprocket-chain '24, there being a crank=handle 25 providedupon the said shaft 20 to serve as a-m'eans whereby the same may berotated to cause Ice ' the cable 19.

- the cable.

manner to one end thereof.

wardlyfrom the upper end of the portion 34.

the shaft 13 to rotate, and consequently move In order that the cablemay be held at any desired point in its line of travel, a ratchet-wheel26' is also engaged upon the shaft at the opposite end thereof to thesprocket-gear 23, and arranged upon the post. 5 is an arm 27, whichcarries a spring-pawl .28 in position for engagement with the teeth ofthe ratchet-wheel 26 to permit of rotation of the shaft 20 in but onedirection.

- Toprevent sagging. of the cable 19 inter-.

size that it may receive not only mail, but

small packages. The box or mail-receptacle 32 is supported by means of abracket, which comprises a bar of metal bent to formrighta-ngularly-extending portions 33 and 34, the portion 33 beingsecured bymeans of screws or other suitable fastening devices at theunder side of the box or receptacle 82 and the portion 34 being securedin a similar Projecting upof the bracket is an arm 35, carrying at itsupper end a stub-shaft36, upon. which is journaled afgrooved wheel 37,and an arm 38 extends rearwardly from the said portion 84 of the bracketabove the box and is thence bent upwardly at ri ht angles, as at 39, andis also provided with a stub.-shaft 40, upon which is j ournaled agrooved wheel 41, it being. understood that the major portion of theweight of the box is sustained by the cable 8, upon which the wheels 37'and 41 travel.

Formed integral with one of the longitudinal.- edges of'the portion 33of the bracket is anear 42, which projects downwardly fromthe saidportion 33 at an angle and has its lower end turned overupon itself, asat 43, and

around the cable 19, it being understood that movement of the cableserves also to move the bracket and the box supported thereby and thatthe box may be caused to travel either toward or from the post .5 byrotating the crank-handle in one direction or the other.

In order that the operator of the system may know when the box is nearthe post 6, and thus enable him to sl'acken the speed of the cable, abutton 44 is formed upon the. cable at such a point that when the button44 is adjacent the post 5 the box or receptacle 32 will be adjacent thepost 6.

What is claimed as the invention is-- 1. A mail-conveying systemcomprising terminal uprights, a cable rigidly supported by the uprights,a traveling: cable mounted beneath the first-named cable, a bracketin- 1eluding arms, wheels carried. by thearm's and arranged to travel uponthe fixed cable, a clip carried by the bracket and connected with thetraveling cable, and a carrier supv ported by the bracket.

2. A. m ail-conveying system comprising terminal uprights, a cablerigidly supported by the uprights, a traveling cable arran ed beneaththe first-named cable, a bracket formed of a bar or metal bent to formrightangularly-extended portions, a wheel journaled at the end of one oithe portions, an

arm connected with the said portion, awheel j ournaled upon the arm,said wheels being ar-' ranged to travel upon the fixed cable, and a clipcarried by the other portion and con;

nected withthe traveling cable.

3. A mail-conveying systemcomprising terminal uprights, a cable rigidlysupported by the uprights, an endless cable mounted for travel beneaththe first-named cable. a

bracket having a portion secured to the end-- less cable and arrangedfor travel upon the fixed cable, and a carrier supported by the bracket.I

In testimony whereof we atlixoursignatures in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK 8. WHITE. JEROME F. STAFFORD. Witnesses E. CJSWEET, S. T.' STL'LL.

